With the success of his Pipes Magazine Radio Show, Brian Levine has become one of the most prominent people in the hobby. The weekly show—available on iTunes and other podcast hosts—is a lively mix of education, interviews, and fun.

Here Brian talks about how it began and what goes into it, as well as a bit of advice for cigar smokers thinking about taking up the pipe.

Stogie Guys: How did the Pipes Magazine Radio Show get started?

Brian Levine: It was a dark and stormy night. A tree had fallen and knocked out the power to my house. We had used the last candle, and the fire was getting low so I decided to go outside and try to cut the tree down hoping it would clear the lines. A bolt of lighting hit near by and I saw it, the logo for The Pipes Magazine Radio Show… Well, not really.

Kevin Godbee (owner/publisher of Pipesmagazine.com) called me in June 2012. He said he had an idea for an audio show based on pipes and pipe smoking. He said he had asked two people for recommendations on who would be good to do this, and both of them had no taste whatsoever and recommended me. We met a couple weeks later in Kansas City at their annual pipe show to discuss the idea.

Kevin and I spent the summer learning software, researching style, gathering sound bites, and setting the tone and format for the show. We finally hit on the basic formula we wanted. We both committed to do the show each week for one year no matter how successful it was at the start. We set a start date in September 2012 and the rest is history.

SG: What is your goal with the show?

BL: I hope that each episode is sometimes educational but always entertaining. I feel like The Pipes Magazine Radio Show is my way to also contribute to the electronic library of information on pipes and pipe tobacco. I am not much of a writer, so doing a blog was out. I have a distant background in television and film so I understand the issues involved with video but always loved old radio.

So, the idea is one hour a week where you can sit down with your pipe, or take it on the road and listen to me, the guest that week, some music or entertainment, and maybe hear me pop off about something, all the while celebrating that we are pipe smokers.

I also make it a point to not just have guests on that are in the business. About half of the guests are pipe smokers that I have met or became aware of and have ranged from a friend who performs one-man shows as Thomas Edison to a collector of pipe-smoking Santa Claus figurines. We have also had pipe smoking clergy from all sects. There are also interviews with individual pipe makers and the biggest factories, as well as tobacco blenders big and small.

Either way, no matter who the guest is that week, I hope to learn about them as a person as well as a pipe smoker. If I do what I want, it will sound like you are listening in on two people having a conversation. I also don’t care what kind or cost of pipe or tobacco a guest smokes, as long as they enjoy it.

SG: Do you know how many listeners you have? Any idea how many are younger pipe smokers?

BL: At least one, his name is John Seiler and he is always the first to comment on a show when we are done. Really, we average 14,000 downloads per episode. Some of the more popular episodes have over 200,000 hits on the file. Obviously the older shows have more hits then a new one. Thanks to the sponsors and Pipesmagazine.com we are able to keep all 125-plus episodes online and available to be played. That is a whole lot of data and me jabbering for over 125 hours.

The podcast of the show is also sent out through iTunes, Podcast.com, Podbay, Podkicker, Spotify, Stitcher and another eight or ten online sources, so it is hard to tell our demographics. The show has a Facebook fan page and I can tell you from that, 54% percent of the listeners are under the age of 44. That number is much lower then I thought it would have been. Women represent 8% of our fan base, and it is not because I am so sexy. About 30% of the listeners are outside of the United States. I have heard from six continents including all the major countries except for some reason we don’t have any listeners in North Korea. Go figure.

SG: What’s been the biggest surprise since you began the program?

BL: There have been several including the fact that the older demographic has embraced the show. The countries that the show reaches shocks me because we only do the show in English.

The biggest surprise has come from the feedback that we receive. Many of the comments we get say how the show is the listeners’ weekly “Pipe Club.” A large amount of pipe smokers do not know any other pipe smokers so this is their one chance each week to hear from me and other pipe people about the hobby, and that means a lot to me. I am glad we are connecting people in a digital way. I was also surprised at the beginning that anybody would want to hear from me, but they do and they wanted more.

SG: If you would, tell us a little about your favorite pipe and pipe tobacco.

BL: Nope. I don’t talk about my favorites for two reasons. One, I am in the business and my full time job as the National Sales Manager for the Sutliff Tobacco Co. makes me biased towards what we make as well as the other brands we import like Mac Baren and Brigham. However, being in the business gives me access to people that others would not get.

The second reason is really the biggest. I do not want to influence listeners or turn them off because of what I like and smoke. I want each pipe smoker to go on their own journey to find those pipes and tobaccos that are magic to them. I am happy to have every guest on the show talk openly about what they like.

I can say that I have a soft spot in my heart for my Disney pipes, and if anyone wants to learn more about my collection of Disney-related tobacciana and the fact that Disneyland and Walt Disney World had full service tobacconist on Main St. USA, they can see my entire collection on Facebook.

I will say that I enjoy some of the older pipes, especially the English factory pipes from the first half of the last century. I also think we are in a golden age right now as far as the quality of pipes and tobaccos that are on the market.

SG: What’s your advice to a cigar smoker who wants to get into pipes? How should they approach pipes and tobacco?

BL: First let me say to anyone getting started, the tobacco goes in the big hole and your mouth goes on the small hole. But, seriously, pipe smoking is a completely different experience than a cigar. I have smoked cigars for over 20 years so I know what I am talking about, yet I prefer my pipes.

Think of smoking a pipe like a martini and a cigar like a single malt. The martini takes preparation and tools to make and enjoy. A single malt is ready to go out of the bottle. A pipe is dramatically more personal then a cigar because you can pack your pipe using different methods. When you buy a cigar it is ready to go. Pipe tobacco tastes differently in different sized pipes.

If a cigar smoker wants to try a pipe I suggest they do the following: find a pipe that they like the look, feel, and style of. Find a few tobaccos that you like the smell of. You will also need a tamper, a soft flame lighter, and pipe cleaners. Get some advice on different pipe smoking techniques. These can come from forums, YouTube, or your tobacconist. Give it several tries before you give up. It took me six years of regular pipe smoking to find my pipe smoking style and preferences, so don’t give up after a few bowls. Listening to the Pipes Magazine Radio Show will help (or hurt) as well. I am also available to answer questions at brian@pipesmagazine.com

These days almost anyone can have their own cigar line, if they have the cash and a name to put on the band. Such cigars can be excellent or lousy, mostly depending (I suspect) on the degree to which the brand owner knows and cares about insisting on a quality product. Selecting a good partner to make the cigar for you helps too, I’m sure.

So I really didn’t know what to expect when I was offered samples of Señor Rio cigars, two cigar blends from the owners of the Señor Rio tequila line. In the introduction email I received, Señor Rio co-owner Jonathan Gach said his direct enjoyment of cigars goes back to the late 1970s, plus even longer if you count enjoying the aroma of the cigars his father smoked.

Further emails revealed he had traveled to Nicaragua and worked with A.J. Fernandez on his two cigars: Señor Rio Añejo and Señor Rio Diamanté, the latter of which I’m reviewing here.

The Diamanté blend has Nicaraguan binder and filler from Estelí, Ometepe, and Condega, wrapped in a medium-brown Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The dual bands surround a fun-sized (5 x 40), box-pressed smoke. It’s a quirky size for introducing a blend, but it works. It’s available for $7.99 at Total Wine shops around the country, as well as a growing number of other cigar retailers.

The well-constructed cigar has an easy draw that reveals an interesting combination of medium-bodied flavors. There are bready notes, a slight habanero spice, and coffee flavors, along with a unique, crisp, almost belt pepper taste.

There’s not much variation in flavor as the cigar progresses, as it maintains its medium- to full-bodied profile. The finish is long as the flavor coats the roof of the mouth.

I paired one cigar up with a sample of the Señor Rio 2 Year Añejo tequila. I wouldn’t say the cigar pairs better with the tequila than, say, a fine bourbon or whiskey, but it is a nice combination. (The tequila itself if very smooth with oak, citrus, and melon flavors.)

I started out saying I didn’t know what to expect from this cigar. Having smoked four of them, I’m impressed with the blend Señor Rio ended up with for Diamanté, no doubt in small part by choosing to work with A.J. Fernandez. It earns the Señor Rio Diamanté a rating of four stogies out of five.

Dale and Darcy Cahill’s interest in tobacco sheds grew naturally, from observation and a simple question. When they began dating some years ago, Dale would drive down from Vermont and, along the way to her home in Connecticut, he passed quite a few big barns.

Having an engineering mind and a history of hands-on work, he was curious and asked Darcy what was in them. “I said, ‘I don’t know. Let’s go look,’” Darcy recalled. “Luckily, it happened to be the end of September, October. We walked into one of those places and… it smelled so good. And it was full of tobacco. It was just beautiful. He said, ‘We’ve got to start taking pictures of these.’”

That was the beginning of what’s become a seeming flood of photographs, calendars, note cards, even tobacco leaves themselves—dried, preserved, and mounted on barn board. You can check it all at their website.

Their second book on the valley’s tobacco sheds just came out. It reflects their efforts to document and preserve New England’s tobacco heritage.

Dale estimates there are currently between 5,000 and 7,000 tobacco sheds still being used, whether for tobacco, vehicle storage, or something else. He’s glad to see that because, he explained, Thomas Visser, a professor of historic preservation who Dale considers a mentor, taught him that the first way to preserve things is to keep them in use. “It’s when you quit using them, they fall apart,” Dale said.

And, Dale added, even a few new sheds have gone up in recent years.

As should be obvious, New England’s agricultural heritage in tobacco is important to Dale and Darcy. It’s easy to understand when they talk lovingly about the structures they’ve toured, the people they’ve met, and the work they’ve done.

Their enthusiasm for the subject seems nearly boundless. Last year, for example, they performed—she plays fiddle, he plays guitar and mandolin—at the Luddy/Taylor Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum’s annual cigar barbecue, which includes a farm tour and appearances by cigar company reps. “It’s very small scale,” Darcy said of the event. “It’s very sweet.”

With the Cahills keeping their eyes, and cameras, trained on the landscape, there’s no doubt that the tobacco sheds, old and new, have someone watching over them.

Contest: Win a Free Copy of Dale and Darcy’s New Book

One lucky StogieGuys.com reader will win a free copy of Dale and Darcy’s beautiful new book, Tobacco Sheds: Vanishing Treasures in the Connecticut River Valley. Just submit a comment below and we’ll select a winner at random next week. Be sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you win (we will not publish your email address; just make sure you provide it in the space provided when you submit your comment). Here are all the contest rules. Good luck.

Recently, Jeff and Sara Mouttet, owners of Riverside Cigar Shop and Lounge in Jeffersonville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, sent us a couple of samples of their new House Blend.

I always find the story of a new cigar intriguing, so I posed some questions about this venture to Jeff via email. And, indeed, it turns out to be an interesting story.

Stogie Guys: Your website shows a very extensive selection of top boutique cigars. What made you decide you needed to add your own line?

Jeff Mouttet: There were several factors that led us to the decision, but first and foremost, we always wanted our own blend and always planned on doing one as soon as the time was right. Additionally, we’ve made good friends with many outstanding boutique cigar makers (Skip Martin and Mike Rosales, Sean Williams, Gary Griffith, Chris Kelly, Enrique Sanchez, Noel Rojas, Sam Leccia, etc.) and we wanted to work with them to do something for us. Lastly, it’s a good business move. We’ve been fortunate to build a loyal clientele over the last three years, and it’s surprising how many people ask if we have our own cigars. Well, now we do.

SG: Walk us briefly through the process of going from idea to cigars on the shelf.

JM: It’s kind of funny, because I had Manny Iriarte design the band over two years ago, but the cigar just now happened. Noel Rojas came through the store on a trip through the area and House of Emilio asked if we minded if he stopped by for a night and did a quick rolling demonstration and, being up for most anything, we said yes. So during the course of the night, after everybody raved about how good Noel’s cigars were, Noel and I sat down and talked numbers, blends, volumes, etc., and we decided right then and there to go ahead and do it. As far as the process, I leaned pretty heavily on Noel’s expertise. I’m a cigar smoker—have been for 30 years—but I’m no blender. Not even close. Maybe one day, but at this point, we left most of that to Noel, and I’ve got to say, I’m glad we did, because he did a fantastic job.

SG: Did you have a specific profile in mind from the start, or did you explore a variety of blends until you found one you liked?

JM: We did have a specific strength profile in mind, not so much a flavor profile. We tried several blends, and ended up with the Ecuador Habano with Nica filler and binder.

SG: What has been the most difficult part? The biggest surprise?

JM: Waiting, shipping, customs, and “Central American Time” have been the most difficult parts of the equation. Well, those, and getting the bands to Nicaragua. The biggest surprise has been the reception of the cigar. We’ve sold nearly 1,500 cigars (all we had made for the first run) in a little less than a month, and that’s just on-premise sales.

SG: Do you have a plan to produce more cigars, maybe distribute them, or will this be it?

JM: Our goal over the next 2 years is to introduce at least two more cigars to the market. We’ve talked to both RoMa Craft and Tesa Cigars about an ongoing manufacturing relationship and both are receptive to the idea. Ideally, we’d like to have “house blends,” or Riverside exclusive blends, make up around 30-40% of our boutique line sales. Distribution is a little trickier if we keep the Riverside name on the cigars, but that may be something we address in the future. I know I would have trouble justifying somebody else’s store name in my humidor, so let’s just say we’re sensitive to that issue. At the same time, I think the quality of the cigars we’re making merits distribution, so we’ll explore that when it looks more feasible.

SG: Are you doing any mail-order or telephone sales for those outside your area who want to try the Riverside House Blend?

JM: Yes. You can call 812-284-6198 or email me at jeff@riversidecigars.com and we’ll be glad to ship. Given all the recent credit card issues we can only take Visa over the phone, but we do have a PayPal account for the store, too, so we have a couple of ways you can pay.

[Editor’s Note: See the end of today’s article to learn how to win a free copy of this book.]

Michael J. McFadden’s new book, TobakkoNacht: The Antismoking Endgame, is an in-depth, carefully documented exploration of how tobacco opponents work. With an Ivy League education and no financial interest in tobacco, McFadden presents technical material in an engaging and understandable format, mixing humor, statistics, anecdote, stories, and surprises. We recently exchanged emails for the following [edited] interview.

Stogie Guys: Can you tell us a little about your background and how you got involved in researching and writing about tobacco?

Michael J. McFadden: The issue of scientific integrity and telling the truth was always important to me. Seeing people unjustly gain at the expense of other people on the basis of lies always angered me, and it’s something I’ve seen throughout the antismoking movement.

My concern with what drives human conflict and allows people to tolerate the suffering or killing of others goes back to my college years and my Peace Studies program. Yes, thermonuclear war is a much more important issue than a smoking ban at the local bar, but they’re both based on people being led to believe lies that lead them to feel it’s OK to attack some other group of people… a dehumanizing of another group.

I first became aware of and concerned about this issue in 1976 when a housemate showed up at our West Philadelphia nonviolence training center with a fistful of leaflets from ASH that were clearly filled with lies and exaggerations. Those lies split our community and helped to eventually destroy our training center altogether, but I didn’t have the background knowledge to be able to fight them effectively. That was really when I began researching the issue.

SG: Your new book, TobakkoNacht, has a somewhat unusual structure. How would you describe it? And how does it differ from your earlier works?

MM: TobakkoNacht is structured to appeal to and benefit several different audiences simultaneously. It has some sections of very serious and fairly complex material, and others of a more relaxed design for quick reading in small units or in environments where one might be distracted during one’s reading.

It’s a book that a less-serious reader can enjoy jumping around in while benefiting a lot along the way, while a more knowledgeable activist or researcher will still find new perspective and knowledge from sections like the extensive “Studies on the Slab.” The opening story sets an emotional tone that is later justified by the explorations of science, and the closing “Endgame” section wraps it all up and provides suggestions for the future. Finally, over four hundred detailed endnote citations thoroughly back up its material while opening the door for further research.

SG: What do you want readers to come away from your the book with?

MM: I hope my readers will come away from the book with several benefits: (1) a greater appreciation of the harms and dangers of the antismoking movement and how they can extend far beyond smokers and far beyond the particular question of smoking; (2) a greater appreciation of how their perceptions, feelings, and behaviors have been consciously manipulated by a strategic distortion of science, language, and statistics; and (3) a better idea of how to fight this sort of misinformation and an appreciation of why it’s important to stand against the special interests that promote it.

SG: Is there a single activity or individual that worries you most in terms of attacking smoking?

MM: I don’t think I could pinpoint any particular person or group as standing out as most “worrisome” in their attacks on smoking. The ones who are the most honest tend to have little money and may be the most effective in educating people about actual smoking hazards and reducing overall numbers of smokers, but I don’t see that sort of honest education as an attack.

The ones living off the mega-millions in grant money may get the biggest microphones and have the most persuasive propaganda broadcast over TV, but they also tend to be the ones telling the biggest lies, and are thus easiest to fight successfully. Free Choice activists are not trying to get more people to smoke, we are trying to ensure that those people who DO decide to smoke are treated fairly and that their decision, and their treatment by society and by people around them, is based upon accurate information and understanding.

SG: What actions do you recommend for individuals who want to do something?

MM: As an immediate recommendation I’d point people to my website at TobakkoNacht.com where they can read selections from the book and to the SmokersClubInc.com website where they’ll find a wealth of information and articles throughout 730+ weekly editions of its newsletter. I’d also recommend visiting and reading the material at Forces.org, AntiProhibition.org, TCTactics.org, and the many Free Choice sites and blogs those links will lead to.

I’d also urge readers to get active in local politics whenever questions of smoking bans come up, print out and share copies of my short and superficial, but sharp and free, “Lies Behind The Smoking Bans” (http://tinyurl.com/SmokingBanLies), and to join and support the various groups active in the fight: Big Tobacco is fighting for its own interests, not necessarily ours. We need to fight for ourselves.

TobakkoNacht: The Antismoking Endgame is available through Amazon and other online book sellers. And in an effort to help spread the word, Stogie Guys is going to give away the inscribed copy McFadden sent us. Just comment below and we’ll select a winner at random after a week.

As cigar podcasting pioneers, Bob McDuffee and Dale Roush caused quite a stir when they announced last month that they’ll cease regular programs of DogWatch Cigar Radio at the end of the year. With more than 400 shows, the podcast has explored just about every aspect of cigars and expanded to a wide-ranging website, CigarMedia.tv. They’ve also introduced numerous smokers, retailers, manufacturers, products, and cigars to a world-wide audience.

I’ve been a listener since the show’s debut back in 2005 when it wasn’t quite so cigar-centric. I finally met Bob and Dale, as well as Bob’s wife, Liz, earlier this year when they held a DogWatch Herf across the state from me in Melbourne, Florida. So, when I heard the announcement I decided to follow up by email with Bob.

Stogie Guys: First, I understand Dale recently suffered a mild heart attack. How is he doing?

Bob McDuffee: Dale is well. The issue was minor, although he is looking ahead to surgery. For now he is resting at home and doing well.

SG: What are your cigar plans after the show ends?

BM: My plans are open-ended. After almost eight years of being on the show every Friday night (there were two shows I missed), it feels strange. Kind of like retiring and having lots of time on your hands. There have been several requests to continue the show in some format, and I am considering those. I hope to do more writing on the site as Cigar Curmudgeon and perhaps do short video/audio segments for release as well, but on an irregular schedule. I also have some comedy video ideas in my head that I cannot seem to get out. I recently began riding a bicycle again and have an idea for making your bicycle smoker friendly. Also, Google+ has become my micro-blog and it pushes out to Facebook as well as Twitter.

SG: You and Dale built up quite a following through the years. Are you planning to keep in touch through other ventures?

BM: Cigar Curmudgeon has always been a vehicle that I wanted to do more with, since writing is an activity I enjoy. Liz and I are planning to attend more events now that we have some free time. I think that after a short hiatus I will be longing for ways to reconnect. We have made so very many friends over the years, and I want to stay in touch with all of them. I will miss getting to talk with so many wonderful people from all over the globe. We have listeners in France, Great Britain, and the Middle East that we have never met in person but feel like they are part of the DogWatch family.

SG: What’s your biggest takeaway from DogWatch? What things have made the biggest impression on you?

BM: DogWatch opened the door for Liz and I to become certified through Tobacconist University, meet many friends, and be a part of a wonderful industry. It is difficult to name one single takeaway, but if I had to I would sum it up as the people. Manufacturers, retailers, and cigar passionados all made the effort worthwhile. Dale has been a great partner in this, and I will miss our weekly get-togethers.

SG: A lot of cigar podcasts have come and gone since you and Dale started. What’s the secret of your longevity, and what advice would you offer someone who wants to start?

BM: My advice would be don’t underestimate the time and work required. It helps if you have no social life, and you must have the support of the significant people in your life. Without the support of Liz all these years I could not have given up so many weekend trips, Friday nights, and money to make this happen. You have to really enjoy what you are doing to make it last. We have sincerely enjoyed DogWatch and the people involved in it. Life takes its own direction sometimes. Over the course of this show Dale and I have changed and grown in so many personal ways. Since starting DogWatch in 2005, I have lost my mother, one brother, grandfather, both in-laws, and been blessed with six grandchildren. I have smoked thousands of good cigars and a few not so good cigars. DogWatch has forever made an imprint on my life.

StogieGuys.com would like to thank Bob for taking the time to talk with us, and we wish Dale all the best for a speedy recovery.

Five years ago I interviewed Casa Fuente General Manager Michael Fayerverger for one of our first “Cigar Insider” interviews. Over half a decade later, I decided to check back in on Casa Fuente, one of the most iconic cigar destinations in the U.S.

This time I interviewed Michael Frey, proprietor of Casa Fuente (as well as Rhumbar) in Las Vegas. Our discussion included my favorite drink on the Casa Fuente menu, a new Casa Fuente blend, and the Aruro Fuente Cigar Company’s 100th anniversary.

Stogie Guys: How have the past five years been?

Michael Frey: Business has continued to grow over the past five years and each year we’ve added a lot of new customers who love the experience and continue to come back.

SG: Even though we’re doing this interview by email, I suspect you have a cigar lit while you write your responses. What cigar is it?

MF: How did you know? It’s the new Casa Fuente Series 5 Special Selection 806.

SG: You’ve added to the Casa Fuente cigar line this year. Tell us about the new addition.

MF: It’s called the Casa Fuente Series 5 Special Selection. There are three cigars, the 806, 807, and 808. All three have a 50-ring gauge and range from robusto to short churchill. They feature a Havana-seed, Ecuadorian sun-grown rosado wrapper and the binder and filler are secret tobaccos from the Fuente’s farm blended by Carlito.

SG: This year is the 100th anniversary of Arturo Fuente Cigars. Any special events planned at Casa Fuente? How about special cigars?

MF: On the Saturday night of the Las Vegas Big Smoke, Carlito will be cutting a giant birthday cake. As far as cigars go, you never know what Carlito will do.

SG: As the owner of Casa Fuente, you have access to some of the rarest Fuente cigars. Which ultra-rare Fuente is your all-time favorite?

MF: I have two, the Brain Hemorrhage and the P.J.

SG: Anytime I’m in Vegas I have to stop by for one of Casa Fuente’s Don Carlos Caipirinhas, which uses a tobacco-infused Grand Marnier float. I’ve had caipirinhas all around the world, including Brazil, but that’s my favorite. Can you shed a little light on that recipe?

MF: The intense, smoky flavor comes from the Grand Marnier float which features an infusion of an aromatic pipe tobacco. It was developed by Francesco LaFranconi, a master mixologist for Southern Wine & Spirits here in Las Vegas.

SG: Because of the warehouse fire that wiped out some of their most prized tobaccos, the Fuentes have said that some of their 100th Anniversary Celebration cigars will be delayed until next year. Any insight into what we can expect?

MF: From what I understand, there will be an introduction of several new brands under the Opus X brand name, including the Angel Share which I smoked recently when Carlito came to Las Vegas for a visit. It was heavenly, living up to its name.

Many thanks to Michael Frey for taking the time to answer our questions. If you even in Las Vegas, I highly recommend stopping by Casa Fuente for some fine cigars and beverages. Speaking from personal experience, it is well worth the trip. My personal favorite is a pairing of the original Casa Fuente cigar and a Don Carlos Caipirinha.